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Goob will lift heavy things soon!!!!


goob
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I wasn't planning on starting a log here till I actually started lifting, but here I am anyway.

 

I'm 6' 3" and went up from 154 lbs to 156 lbs since the beginning of November. I've been doing bodyweight exercises and some resistance exercises with these rubber tube thingies since then and have been making lots of progress on all exercises except for pull ups.

 

At the start I could barely do 4 push ups and this morning I did 25, 17, then 10 and 7 more on my knees just because. I was planning on keeping up mostly bodyweight exercises for longer but I am looking forward to lifting heavy things now xD. So, I am planning to start the StrongLifts program next week.

 

I've been skinny since I was ~13 and vegetarian from 15 and really only vegan for the past year and I'm tired of people assuming my being skinny is related to my not eating animals. The main goal right now is to figure out how to get massive amounts of food inside me then get big. I've been trying to up my calories for 2 months and I can't get past ~2600 calories without feeling sick all day. And, that is definitely not enough, any tips on getting more food in would be nice. I'll put what I ate today as a starting point and see what people think I should add.

 

1 small banana

1/2 cup oats

1 oz raw almonds

3 tbsp flax seeds

2 cups grapefruit juice

4 pieces ezekial bread with peanut butter

12 oz package of frozen broccoli

2 cups soy milk

1 can low sodium black beans

1 cup bulgur

1/2 package raw spinach

 

2601 calories

121g protein

78g fat

 

This is a pretty accurate representation of what I eat on a daily basis except usually 2 bananas and I don't generally have grapefruit juice but it was here so I had some. This is split up into 5 meals. Thanks for looking, hopefully this will keep me accountable.

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Hey man, welcome.

 

Is there a reason you don't eat anything like rice (quinoa, couscous etc.)?

 

If you have a blender it'll make life real easy for you. Most days I only have 1 meal of grain/beans and everything else is blended drinks (about 5) and take in 4500kcal+. I used to have none of these or only one and I spent all day preparing/eating food. It drains your soul. It takes care of veg as well - I find veg (especially raw) can take a while to eat and a lot of space in your stomach for low calories. If you blend them into drinks it eliminates this.

 

High calorie foods that blend well are -

Any nuts/seeds

Oats

Omega oils

 

Then protein powders/fruit have a decent amount as well. For the liquid you can use fruit juice or soy milk to get extra calories or protein.

 

 

Stronglifts is a great programme and I like the look of the new format, that it now uses barbell rows instead of inverted rows, and the assistance is optional (chins or pullups/pushups or dips/crunches/bridges). While I do think these exercises are important, it gets it into your head that the squat/bench/rows/press are the ones that deserve your maximum intensity. It also teaches you that too many exercises can be bad for gains. Try and stick to the exact programme for 12 weeks (do the recommended assistance if you want but don't add anything else).

 

Learning a proper full body stretching routine is important, you should dedicate time to this to avoid injury - because the weight goes up fast in stronglifts. I like starting from the top, doing rear delts, triceps, upper back, chest, lats, then onto the floor for abs, lower back+glutes, groin, then back up again for hip flexors, quads, adductor, hamstrings, calves. Holding each for 20-30s - each side depending on the stretch. This can take upto 10 mins after you've learned them all but it's essential for the intense workouts. You can't lift if you're injured. Don't skip this.

 

 

Good luck

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You can get past 2600 cals. if you make smoothies. You can throw a lot of food/protein powder into a smoothie, making it nutrient dense. Split up your meals into several per day if you can - I see you are at five now - some folks take another smoothie/shake before bed.

 

Nuts will add quick cals. - I blend them in with my smoothies.

 

Keep track of your food intake on fitday/other. -it will give you a good guideline of where you are daily.

 

As chewybaws stated, raw veggies are so filling; if I eat a lot of those it will fill me up for a long time.

 

You can't lift if you're injured. Don't skip this.

 

Great advise - I should have followed this one last week & now I'm paying for it...I need a week or two off at this point...

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Hey man, welcome.

 

Is there a reason you don't eat anything like rice (quinoa, couscous etc.)?

 

If you have a blender it'll make life real easy for you.....I find veg (especially raw) can take a while to eat and a lot of space in your stomach for low calories. If you blend them into drinks it eliminates this....

 

I've been reading your log and it really is very inspiring but fucking hell is it long . It's cool to see that someone else has done so well in what I am trying to do now. Really man, thanks a lot for your help.

 

I do eat brown rice sometimes and bulgur is sort of like rice, it's a kind of cracked wheat I think. It's really cheap so I eat it a lot.

 

the kind i get looks like this

http://www.sunnylandmills.com/images/product/bulgur_brown_3_coarse.jpg

 

I get other kinds of grains randomly also, right now I have amaranth, red and white quinoa , brown rice and maybe some other things also. I would be eating quinoa mostly, but it is more than $5 a pound here and I would rather spent the extra money on more greens than a grain I don't even really like.

 

I do have a blender and I'm probably going to switch to mostly blended meals, or at least put all the greens into smoothies, because I'm already spending a lot of time eating and I don't really want to waste even more time on food. I just wasn't too sure it was a good idea to drink that many calories, but since it seems to work well for you I'll try that out.

 

Right now I've got lots of almonds and flax seeds, and I just got a bunch of pumpkin seeds and ordered some pea/rice protein. So, I'll try to get a green smoothie down in about an hour and see how that goes. I don't like the idea of using oils though because they don't really have food value, but I might get that vega 3-6-9 oil or something similar. Any thoughts on that?

 

I was planning to do the assistance exercises also because I like dips and I'm determined to be able to do more than 1 pullup in a set but, I will see how that goes when I start.

 

Also, I will look into some stretching routines tonight while I am eating. Not injuring myself is the only reason I didn't start out with weight training 2 months ago and why I am waiting till next week to start stronglifts. I'll have someone to show me how to do the lifts properly then.

 

You can get past 2600 cals. if you make smoothies. You can throw a lot of food/protein powder into a smoothie, making it nutrient dense. Split up your meals into several per day if you can - I see you are at five now - some folks take another smoothie/shake before bed.

 

Nuts will add quick cals. - I blend them in with my smoothies.

 

Keep track of your food intake on fitday/other. -it will give you a good guideline of where you are daily.

 

As chewybaws stated, raw veggies are so filling; if I eat a lot of those it will fill me up for a long time......

 

The only reason I'm eating 5 times a day is that it is taking too long to eat and I don't want to go to bed stuffed. Seriously, I'm uncomfortably full most of the day as it is. I am going to try to eat ever 2 or 3 hours if I can when I am fully underway with lifting. I don't care so much about getting fat or anything because at least it's something different and I actually lost a little weight these last 2 weeks eating this way with ~1 hour of bodyweight exercises every other day, so I think I will need to get a lot more food in me to gain weight consistently.

 

Also, I use this CRON-o-meter software I downloaded from a link on someones blog to track my food.

 

It sucks that you got injured, hopefully you heal quickly. I'm going to do my best to make sure I don't backtrack because of injuries.

 

Thanks again.

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Eating lots of food on a budget can be trying, I hear ya. I wanted to keep it at $7 per day. With 3k+ cal days though i'm close to $10. I enjoyed reading one of motives for lifting, that you're tired of others saying it's b/c you don't eat animals. Show em' what's up!!

 

How are you staying ~$10 a day eating so much spirulina? I'm interested in eating massive amounts of spirulina myself, but it will have to wait I think. It would be awesome to have a big barrel full of spirulina sitting in my kitchen though

 

--------

I joined a gym this week. It's a little more expensive than the one I was going to join but it's closer, better equipped and also much more weight lifting centered. The staff is also better, or at least I like them better, which leads to another change in my plans. I'm not going to be following the stronglifts program now. I'll be seeing a trainer for a little while at least, and I'll follow his plan which still focuses on heavy compound lifts with free weights, so it seems good to me.

 

I've mostly been goofing around this week, because that is what I do , but starting monday I am actually going to get serious about lifting. I have to now, because I've talked to some of the people at the gym about my veganism and they seemed very interested in how it is going to work out for me without eating animal products and I want to make vegans look good .

 

As far as food, I'm doing better than before, but I'm still not happy with my diet. I started making one smoothie/shake every day and have been able to get my calories up over 3k. I imagine I could pretty easily get over 4k if I need to now, and I think I might, because I didn't gain any weight last week. At least i didn't lose weight again though. I will stick with this for a couple weeks and see how it goes, but I think I'm going to replace at least 1 more meal with some kind of shake.

 

On a side note, there is a picture of a 76 year old women deadlifting 251 pounds on the wall at my gym. Apparently, she is 80 now and still trains there regularly. That's pretty intense.

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That lady sounds hardcore!

 

 

I don't consume as much spirulina as I had for the documentary. I just cannot afford it. I cut it down to about 50-70g a day. It is of course cheaper in bulk. I think it's prob 10-15 bucks a day. I keep optimistic to keep on a budget.

 

 

Nice amount of calories you are getting in by the way! That's right on track.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I weigh 160.1 lbs (72.8 kg?) now . Also, I'm definitely stronger than I was last week and I think my arms and chest are getting bigger, so I'm pretty stoked.

 

Everything is going well except, my trainer is having me use a V-squat machine and leg press instead of regular squats, which I'm not happy about, but he seems to think it's safer to start with that then switch to regular squats after I build some muscle, so I'll go along with it for now. Any thoughts on this machine? I can't find any actual negative reviews on the internet except for some from short people having trouble getting full range of motion.

 

Otherwise I'm pretty excited and having fun even though I almost puked during my first leg workout on friday . That kind of sucked, but I made it through. It definitely makes me want to work even harder now.

 

I'm going to try to get into the habit of posting here after my workouts so that I have something to keep me interested after the novelty wears off. But, I'll see how that goes.

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I don't know what a V squat machine is, but I'm going to assume that it balances the weight for you - meaning it won't do shit for improving balance OR working the stabilizing muscles. You don't need muscle to squat an empty bar so I don't really see where the logic is there. A machine is not a good intro to the squat, because you'll need to start over with balance, building small muscles up, bar position (and getting your back muscles used to holding the bar), learning where your hips and knees should be to ensure a straight bar path, the list goes on....

 

Nice work on the weight gain!

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I don't know what a V squat machine is, but I'm going to assume that it balances the weight for you - meaning it won't do shit for improving balance OR working the stabilizing muscles. You don't need muscle to squat an empty bar so I don't really see where the logic is there. A machine is not a good intro to the squat, because you'll need to start over with balance, building small muscles up, bar position (and getting your back muscles used to holding the bar), learning where your hips and knees should be to ensure a straight bar path, the list goes on....

 

Nice work on the weight gain!

 

+1

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+2

 

While a machine can be a fun diversion from time to time, there's going to be minimal carryover to learning how to squat properly. No machine puts a bar in your back in the place you need to hold it for squatting, no machine hits the stabilizers the same way, no machine mimics the body's natural ROM like squatting does. Even if you have to start off VERY light, it's better to squat light than build false confidence on a machine that won't carry over to squats well at all!

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I don't know what a V squat machine is, but I'm going to assume that it balances the weight for you - meaning it won't do shit for improving balance OR working the stabilizing muscles. You don't need muscle to squat an empty bar so I don't really see where the logic is there. A machine is not a good intro to the squat, because you'll need to start over with balance, building small muscles up, bar position (and getting your back muscles used to holding the bar), learning where your hips and knees should be to ensure a straight bar path, the list goes on....

 

Nice work on the weight gain!

 

Thats exactly what I was thinking, which is why I'm not happy about using the V squat machine. I'm going to tell him I want to do real squats from now on.

 

+2

 

While a machine can be a fun diversion from time to time, there's going to be minimal carryover to learning how to squat properly. No machine puts a bar in your back in the place you need to hold it for squatting, no machine hits the stabilizers the same way, no machine mimics the body's natural ROM like squatting does. Even if you have to start off VERY light, it's better to squat light than build false confidence on a machine that won't carry over to squats well at all!

 

The more I think about it, the more it seems he started me on the V squat machine specifically for false confidence. I imagine there would be more noticeable physical improvements in less time using machines, especially for legs, because I could work the larger muscles much harder without destroying the smaller muscles involved in balancing the bar properly and whatnot.

 

I don't necessarily think that's a bad decision on his part, because a lot of people probably give up pretty early on and he wants me to see results as quickly as possible so I stay motivated and keep paying him .

 

Anyway, now I'm definitely going to tell him that isn't what I want. Thanks a lot guys.

 

Edit: Also, I was more worried about health concerns associated with that specific machine, which I guess doesn't matter so much now that I'm not going to use it anymore. But, for future reference, it seems like a good way to work ummm.... all those muscles in the ass region if your back is not up for squatting for some reason. I imagine it would be better than just not squatting if there weren't any other reason not to use it.

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How are things going?

 

Hope training and eating are both awesome!

 

Have a great weekend.

 

-Robert

 

Thanks for posting here!!!!

 

Eating could be better but training is going well. Last night I got busy and forgot to eat before I went to the gym and could definitely tell the difference. Everything was way more difficult than normal and I was starving by the time I left. I'm not going to let that happen again.

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Goob like Rock Solid the rapper says "Type to eat everything in the fridge, LIKE SWOLE". Get your bulk on

 

That's the plan right now

 

This morning when i weighed myself I was right at 164 pounds. That's just under 4 pounds in a week. At this rate I'll be a fat slob just in time for summer

 

Anyway, today I started with barbell squats with my trainer. It was supposed to be more of a "learn to do squats" day than a real workout, but my legs still ended up pretty rubbery at the end. I did better than I expected, so I'm pretty happy about today.

 

I keep telling myself that I should be keeping better track of my workouts and my progress, but I still haven't got around to that. I'm not really so sure how serious I am taking this just yet actually. It's not so bad right now I suppose, while I have someone to push me when I'm in the gym, but I'm going to have to make a better plan before too long.

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Workout on friday was complete shit. I started getting sore after my warm-up set on the bench and everything went downhill from there. Either I wasn't fully recovered or these anti-soy people are right and I'm turning into a little girl . I thought I was sort of taking it easy on my arms on wednesday, but apparently not easy enough.

 

On a related note, I started taking bcaa's friday and I really didn't expect them to taste that bad. If they would actually mix with water it wouldn't be a problem, but they don't, so I'm just dumping them in my mouth then drinking enough water to make them go down and thats just nasty. Hopefully they work, because if all this is for nothing I'm going to be pissed .

 

Also, I went to the gym this morning to practice barbell squats. I think I have it down pretty well but I'm not really sure about depth. How far do I really need to go? Lots of people say to go as deep as possible but, I can literally put my ass on the ground with no problem. I think i could actually go an inch or two lower than that if the floor wasn't in the way. Should I bottom out on every rep or stop just before that or no need to even go that far? Thanks for the help.

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  • 2 weeks later...
It depends on what you want to work on. Squats to parallel are typically used for powerlifting, and ass to grass are olympic style squats. Both are acceptable. Personally, I work on both because I like both!

 

Thanks for the input. I've decided I'm just going to go all the way down on squats. I've tried less deep and to the floor, but the next day I'm sore in a lot more places when I squat ass to ankles, so it seems more effective to do that.

 

I'm just trying to get strong, not look strong because I have more plates on the bar

 

----

 

Eating is going well, lifting is going well also, but updating this log is shit

 

This morning i weighed 167.4 pounds, so still gaining weight pretty quickly. I sort of thought it would be harder to gain weight than it has been. That ~15 pounds in 3 months.

 

I've been meaning to take some pictures but I never got around to that, so my "before" pictures will probably be sometime this week if I get around to taking them.

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  • 3 months later...

I haven't been on this forum for a while, but I'm bored and it seems I'm not going to be approved for the other forum i signed up for a couple months ago, so I might as well post here.

 

I've stopped with the personal trainer a few months ago and started with a 5x5 routine on my own, but shortly gave up on that because it was taking too much time and now am doing 3x5 after warm ups and sometimes doing some heavy singles, doubles or triples afterwards just for fun

 

It's basically the starting strength program with rows instead of power cleans because I can't do them properly at the gym i go to.

 

Numbers are like this now

 

height - 6' 3" (~190 cm)

weight - 181 lbs (~82.1 kg)

bodyfat - 19.88% (navy method)

 

Squat - 1x 165 lbs (~74.8 kg) with belt

Deadlift - 1x 205 lbs (~93 kg) with belt

Bench - 1x 130 lbs (~59 kg)

Press - 4x 80 lbs (~36.3 kg)

Pullups - 3x 3

 

Not sure if any of those numbers are even ok for someone my size with 5 months training really, but I am sort of embarrassed by them. I know my deadlift is probably a lot higher, because 205 was not that hard and have drastically improved form and gained ~15 pounds since i did that. More in there on the squat too i think, but the rest is all out or close to it.

 

3 weeks ago I weighed 183 lbs but I'm just sick of eating so weight is down a little. I think I've decided to cut fat some then try to maintain my weight till it isn't so hot, mostly to give myself a break from eating so much, and partly because being fat and weak is just not acceptable to me. If that bodyfat % is close to accurate I'm assuming ~170 lbs is the goal.

 

I am also adding in some cardio a few times a week for 30 - 40 minutes on non lifting days. Will maybe put together some sort of strongman medley type thing in the back yard for one of those days, but not sure yet.

 

If this interferes with strength gains too much I'll scrap the whole plan and just keep forcing myself to eat this summer and do some interval training a few times a week to bring fitness levels up.

 

Also, I did take some pictures in february but they didn't turn out so I deleted them. It kind of sucks, I know I am much bigger than I was in december, but I don't really have anything to compare to really see the difference all this work has made.

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It doesn't really matter if your numbers are "acceptable" to anyone else, what matters is that you're continuing to progress. You're only competing against yourself. I know you can keep lifting heavier! Yeah!

 

I know what you mean about eating, it's kind of a pain sometimes for me, too.

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It doesn't really matter if your numbers are "acceptable" to anyone else, what matters is that you're continuing to progress. You're only competing against yourself. I know you can keep lifting heavier! Yeah!

 

I know what you mean about eating, it's kind of a pain sometimes for me, too.

 

I don't care so much what is acceptable to other people, it's just not acceptable to me.

 

Todays workout ----- about an hour and 15 minutes

 

5 minutes warm up on bike then some stretching

 

Squat

 

2x5 w/ bar

1x5 95 lbs

1x3 125 lbs

3x5 150 lbs

 

I should have just put 155 but I got it into my head somehow that 150 was today so went with it. Felt lightish on my back, but some reps started to go forward a bit. Not sure if I should keep using 5 pound increments or not. Probably maybe will.

 

Bench

 

8x2 with bar

1x5 75

1x3 95

3x5 110

 

Still wobbly on bench. Sometimes I hit the right spot and its pretty easy, but mostly not so good. The last set was the easiest though, so not sure what to think about that.

 

Deadlift

 

1x5 135

1x5 205

 

Don't know if I should be warming up more than that, probably will do a triple at something in the middle next time.

 

tried doing some dips, but pretty tired by then and wasn't happening so did a couple sets on this "dip machine" thingy at not sure the weight, but 8 reps was tough then did some abs and went home.

 

Overall I'm pretty happy with the session except for the dips, last week I could do 8, 7 then 7 and today just wasn't going anywhere. Deadlift did take a lot out of me though and will definitely feel it tomorrow.

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Hamstrings and calves sort of tight today. Not sure what the calf tightness is about, never happened before.

 

5 mins on bike + some stretching

 

it turns out i suck at squatting

 

Squat

 

2x5 bar

1x5 95

1x3 135 felt heavy

2x1 165 fail on 2 just couldn't get my hips to do their job

1xf 165 stuck in the hole :/

1x3 155 fail on 4

1x7 135 punishment for being weak

 

Press

 

2x8 bar

3x5 55

 

I been failing on these for like 3 weeks so dropped weight way down this time and starting over. A lot of the problem is with getting a straight bar path, so trying to get that sorted.

 

Rows

 

1xsome bar

3x5 100

 

Much heavier than this I can't keep my hips from doing most of the work, so this is a deload also. I sort of yank the bar up with my hips, my chest comes up then i pull the bar to my chest after its well off the ground, not sure how to keep from doing that beside get stronger. Friday I used 95 pounds after having been up to 125 cheating and had DOMS all across my upper back the next day, so the cheating way is definitely not optimal.

 

Pullups

 

3 2 2 1 1

 

Tried some incline/decline??? ( head going down) situps with a 10lb plate on my chest, but quit because it didn't seem safe on the back. So did 2x10+8 leg raises and left.

 

Going to stick to adding 5lbs a session on all the lifts, except deadlift because that is the only one I haven't really failed on yet. Maybe I will stop sucking so much that way. Also maybe going to suck it up and eat more, but not feeling it just now.

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Horrible workout today. I'm guessing the lazy eating the past 3 weeks has gotten to me. Also, I've been going at close to max intensity for almost 5 months now and constantly being sore is probably interfering with my progress.

 

The plan now is to stay away from the gym for a week, then hit the eating hard and back at it fresh on the 23rd. Hopefully this helps out, because it sucks feeling so weak after putting in so much work.

 

I did mange to get 3x5 at 115 on the bench press, but other than that everything was garbage.

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